Assalaamu alaykum. My grandfather had six sons, one son died, and he left his wife with one son, who received a farm as a gift from my grandfather, but he also died leaving his wife and one son. So the grandson received a farm from his grandfather as a gift and then he died leaving one son only. The grandfather also died. The five sons divided the large inherited lands according to the Islamic Shariah, but they do not know what to do with the farm which was gifted to the dead grandson. Do they give the gifted farm to the grand-grandson, or do they divide it between them? Thank you.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If the gift of the farm to the grandson took place with its conditions in the Islamic Shariah, then, in this case, the farm becomes the property of the grandson. If the grandson dies, the farm is to be divided among his own heirs, and not among the heirs of the grandfather.

However, if the gift did not take place with its conditions in the Shariah, then the farm did not become the property of the grandson. In this case, after the death of the grandfather, it should be divided amongst his own heirs, and not among the heirs of the grandson.

The conditions for the gift to be valid and to be transferred to the ownership of the grandson is that the grandfather must have gifted it to him when he was in sound health (i.e. not in his death sickness), and the grandson must have taken actual possession of the farm, which means that he disposed of it as its owner.

In regard to a young boy (who had not yet reached puberty) and a foolish person, it is their legitimate guardian or the representative of their guardian who possesses the gift on their behalf [until they are qualified to receive it]. If this condition is met, the gift is effective and the farm becomes the property of the grandson, and the property of his heirs after his death.

However, if the grandson did not take possession of the farm until his grandfather died, then the gift was not complete [meaning that it did not become effective], because of the hadeeth of ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who related that Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, gifted her about twenty units of weight from the harvest of dates from his property in Al-‘Aaliyah [a region in Madeenah], and when he got sick, he said to her, “O daughter, I had gifted you about twenty units of weight from the harvest of dates, and had you owned them, they would have become your property, but since you did not own them, then today it is the property of the heirs, so divide it according to the Book of Allah." [Maalik in Al-Muwatta’]

Ibn Qudaamah said in Al-Mughni, “If the gift-giver or the gift-receiver dies before the gift is transferred to the possession of the receiver, then the gift is void...”

On the other hand, if the grandfather had gifted the land in his death sickness, then such a gift takes the ruling of a will, meaning that it is not considered a gift but a will, as if the grandfather had made a will that the farm will be for his grandson after his death.

Ibn Qudaamah said, “The ruling of gifts in a death sickness is the (same) ruling of a will.” 

In this case, if the grandson died before the death of the grandfather who had made the will, then the will is void, according to the agreement of the scholars.

The Fiqh Encyclopedia reads, “The death of a particular person to whom the will is made is of two following cases: either the person to whom the will is made dies before the death of the person who had made the will for him, or he dies at the same time like him. The will is void in both cases according to the agreement of the scholars.”

Based on that (i.e. its being a will), the farm must be returned to the estate which the grandfather had left, and it must be divided between the heirs according to the Shariah.

Allah knows best.